Sustainable Public Procurement (SPP)

Please note: Most links lead to pages in Dutch.

Themes SPP

Important themes within SPP are among others international social conditions, social return, circularity, environment, climate, diversity and inclusion and innovation. 

International social conditions

Internationale social conditions (Internationale sociale voorwaarden) focus on promoting international labour standards and human rights, including combating forced labour, slavery, child labour and unfair discrimination. Implementing these social conditions in government contracts helps to eliminate such injustices in the supply chain. 

Social return

Social return and purchasing from social enterprises promote labor market participation and create employment opportunities for people in vulnerable positions on the labor market. In your procurement process, you can encourage or require the contractor to make a social contribution. 

Circularity

Circular procurement (Circulariteit) is an important tool in the pursuit of a circular economy. Within it, you repurpose products, components and materials in the best way possible. High-value raw materials are becoming increasingly scarce and will eventually become depleted. As such, it’s important to minimise use of raw materials, and make products and materials more reusable.

Environment and climate

Through procurement, you can contribute to a better environment (Milieu), combating pollution, and protecting the living environment and biodiversity. Consider: materials and raw materials, water and soil, living environment, nature-inclusive procurement, and biodiversity. You can also make climate-conscious purchases (Klimaat) and prevent the emission of CO2 and other greenhouse gases. This way, you contribute to energy savings and the transition to sustainable energy sources.

Diversity and Inclusion

In a diverse and inclusive society, everyone is treated equally, regardless of who they are, whom they love, where they come from, or what they believe. Collaboration with diverse people leads to more innovation and better products and services that align with society. Diversity and inclusion (Diversiteit en Inclusie) can be requested in procurement.

Innovation 

The government can use procurement as a way of encouraging the market to come up with innovative solutions (Innovatie). This can be done either by actively seeking an innovative solution or by offering market players the scope to provide innovative solutions. Innovation is vital for economic growth and progress.

Policy and implementation SPP

Government procurement amounts to nearly 116 billion euros per year. It thus has a significant impact on the environment and on social issues, both here and in other countries. Deliberately targeted sustainable public procurement is a powerful tool for achieving major sustainability goals. See for further details the page Policy and implementation.

Practice and tools SPP

There are several tools that you can use when applying sustainable procurement. Examples are the MVI-criteriatool (environmental criteria for SPP), de MVI-zelfevaluatietool (self-assessment tool) and the Wegwijzer MVOI (with information and tools). There are also various guidelines, best practices and studies available. See the complete overview on the page Praktijk&Tools.

Buyer Groups

In the Netherlands, contracting authorities in the public and private sector that wish to incorporate climate impact, circularity and social goals into their procurements can join a buyer group. In a buyer group, they work together to develop a shared market vision and strategy for a specific product category. This gives a clear signal to the market and allows members to share costs and risks. See for further details the page Buyer groups for sustainability.